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Stefan, considering our despicable decision to betray Poland in the defense shield situation, your questions about the Polanski arrest are legitimate. But you should know, most Americans don't like it when politicians betray our allies in order to coddle an enemy.

As far as the concept of "statute of limitations" is concerned, Polanski already plead guilty to one of the charges, so at this point his flight makes him a convicted fugitive. Also, "flight to avoid prosecution" is an additional federal crime that comes with a prison penalty of up to 5 years. The important point is that his "flight" stopped the clock on the whole case. This means that upon return to the U.S., it will be as if the crime happened yesterday. One can not avoid jailtime by fleeing the country and hoping the statute of limitations runs out. That's why the "flight" law overrides the "statute of limitations" law. Otherwise every criminal would flee.

It's true that Americans want him to go to prison. In our country, crimes against children are the lowest form of illigality that can be committed. Even murderers hate child rapists. Also in this country, criminals are brought to justice for a number of reasons. Nearly all of which, Polanski qualifies for. If you believe prison is a retaliation, then Polanski should go to jail. If you believe it is for punishment, then Polansk should go to jail. If you believe it is for reform, then Polanski should go to jail for the rest of his life (as it is generally held in the psychiatric world that child predators, like sociopaths, can't be reformed). If you believe that imprisonment should be to protect society, then Polanski should go to jail (since there is a mountain of evidence to suggest that he has a lifelong history of child molestation).

One thing that is lost in this discussion is that justice not only serves the victim, but society. This is why criminals are not tried by victims, but by the state. This is why the charges read the "State of California vs. Roman Polanski". Because the crime was not only committed against the victim, but against society at large. And while the victim may have forgiven him, society has not. In our judicial system, California has an obligation to the people to pursue this case.

kara - 8 years ago

I’m absolutely AMAZED there’s even any debate about this. YES, the man should be extradited back to the US and made to serve out a sentence not only for his sexual abuse 30 years ago, but for attempting to evade the law. The idea that he’s “suffered enough” is ridiculous. No one is in charge of his life and decisions but him, and if he wanted to avoid dealing with this 30 years after the fact, he should have faced the consequences of his actions like a mature responsible human being. His choice was to run like a coward, now he must face the consequences. Anyone who can’t see this really needs to take a deep look at themselves and their beliefs, because it’s just pathetic.

paula - 8 years ago

Laws are made for everyone.For Polanski for some President of I don't know where and for the mister nobody down the road. The man comitted a crime and child abuse remains child abuse forever. Switzerland is not a Banana Republic and Polanski should be punished for what he did. Period.

The United States is respected world-wide because she always try to lead by example. It's yet another time to do that again. Polanski should be extradited and made to face the wrath of the law "no one should be above the law."

Stefan Jankowski - 8 years ago

I forgot to say that it's very difficult for us to believe that there is no connection between the last UBS case and Polanski's arrest.

Stefan Jankowski - 8 years ago

Many people in Poland afraid of the future of Polanski, as we see the threat to judicial lynching by judicial authorities of California. According to our view, the penalty is to perform correction and it is to protecting the society, rather than features retaliation. Therefore, we are deeply attached to the concept of statute of limitations.
Generally, in Poland you can see a slowly but consistently growing anti-Americanism, because of glaring imbalance in the relationships between Poland and USA (for example, Mazur's case: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Mazur), missile defense shield issues (at the expense of a serious risk of deterioration in our relations with Russia), visas (USA is one of the last country in the world requiring visas form Poles), Polish military losses in Afghanistan, lied to us on Iraq (this resulted in deterioration of Polish relations with the rest of Europe, eg France), and last but not least "Russian reset". Polanski's case, in our view, is another signal of Polish nation humiliation.

samm - 8 years ago

The Prosecutor from the city of Los Angeles wants to make an example of Mr. Polanski and that just isn't right. Polanski used very bad judgement at the time and i personally don't condone what he did however, why did the young girl's mother allow her to go there without supervision in the first place.